TF2 + Legos = Amazle

Swear, I don't have a sentry gun fetish. Although it would be cool to meet a girl who did (I don't judge). Last week we churned up a video of a guy who developed a paintball sentry, and now reader Mohammed I. passes along a less functional, but no less impressive version: A Lego Sentry. Props to the builder, and especially for the game-screen render around it. Seriously, new desktop pic. It's a work of art and should stand for all time. Until some bastard-ass Spy whips up a Lego sapper.

Team Fortress 2 Sentry [Lair of the Legomancer, via Shift Gamer, thanks reader Mohammed]

Next TF2 Update Is A Pretty Heavy Endeavor

And so the rumors of a possible Scout class upgrade coming up next dissolve in a hail of mini-gun bullets as the newly-created Official Team Fortress 2 Blog discusses upcoming changes to the Heavy, every Medic's best friend. In designer Robin Walker's highly informative post he explores the process behind updating a Team Fortress 2 class in great detail, starting with the overall goal of making the Heavy more viable as a standalone, non-Medicated class.

From there he explores the process of achieving that goal, including constraints (will the changes overpower the Heavy/Medic team?), entertainment value (will the new tools be interesting?), and weighing the changes against the basic skillset of a successful Heavy. It's an intriguing look into the process behind making Team Fortress 2 a better game, and a great read overall.

A Heavy Problem [TF2 Official Blog - Thanks Overcow!]

Over on Valve's official TF2 blog are the fronts and backs to two trading cards built for promotional uses but never used. Valve promises more updates as time goes on, so all you get now are Engineer and Demoman. They're filled with fun facts. Engie's bio says he has "11 hard science PhDs." Jesus. I can only think of, like, four off the top of my head. And Demoman lost his parents thanks to "a terrible plan to kill the Loch Ness Monster."

Doesn't Scout carry a bat? Seems he'd be obvious for the first batch. Hi res cards after the jump, or you can go get 'em from TeamFortress.com directly.

"The server I found myself on was an odd, unsettling place," writes Alec Meer, exploring Team Fortress 2's "Achievement Servers" for Rock, Paper, Shotgun. "The tiny, custom map placed the red and blue spawn points right next to each other, removed the wait period between respawns, dropped a single capture point in the middle and placed intelligence briefcases at either end. A small pool of water was placed awkwardly in a corner, and health packs scattered in bizarre columns. No-one could ever win this map - it was set up to repeat forever."

No sooner than Pyro's unlockable weapons drop than does the grinding and achievement farming begin again with great intensity. Alec visited an achievement servers to witness the depravity himself firsthand and, of course, found himself unlocking 14 achievements and getting the Flare Gun. "It’s as though someone’s stamped LIAR on my Steam page."

Loads of good vignettes in this piece. If you like TF2 or have an opinion on achievements, give it a look.

Achieving Nothing in TF2 [Rock, Paper Shotgun]

The Pyro isn't just getting three new weapons in tomorrow's Team Fortress 2 update pack. His main weapon is getting an upgrade that will completely blow you away. The standard flamethrower will now come with a spiffy new alt-fire mode that shoots a blast of compressed air, blowing away both opponents and incoming projectiles, meaning soldiers are about to get a taste of their own medicine in a very bad way.

On top of the main weapon tweaks, the Pyro is also getting the Axtinguisher, which we've already covered, The Flare Gun, teased in yesterday's Meet the Sniper vid, which allows you to set opponents ablaze from afar, and The Backburner, a flamethrower for the sneakier firebugs out there. While it lacks the compressed air feature, The Backburner guarantees critical hits from behind while granting the Pyro 50 more health.

Hit the link below for the full skinny on the Pyro update from Valve, including the two new maps and a full list of updated Pyro achievements!

The Pyro Update [Team Fortress 2 - Thanks David!]

Meet The Sniper

Valve has released "Meet The Sniper," the newest clip in the expertly animated and hilarious character profiles from Team Fortress 2. The introduction to the Sniper may rival "Meet The Heavy" in terms of laughs—especially if you pay attention during the time-lapse segment—and stands head and shoulders above every other release in terms of direction. Possibly my favorite "Meet The" so far. Thanks to everyone who reminded us of the new clip's release today.

I'm Sorry I Have to Do This to You

Warning, this is supremely obnoxious and you should turn your speakers down.
Dad sometimes asks me for explanation of certain video games, and since his frame of reference stops at 8 bits, and todays titles are far deeper than anything I played as his dependent, the conversation gets a little difficult at times.

But If he ever asks me what Team Fortress 2 is all about, I'm gonna point him to this video.

TF2 Updates: May I Ax You A Question?

Trailer: Meet the Scout

Someone stuck this on reddit an hour ago — can't find the source, but love the filename: OH HAI. Indeed. That looks like at least half-a-dozen sentinel guns, and Engineer's enjoying his beer.

Good ole Engie. And just to justify this so-win picture, Machinima has an excellent video on how to play him in Team Fortress 2, including a sequence on playing him offensively. I mean, on offense. He's definitely playing offensively in that shot above.

How to Play the Engineer [Machinima.com, by EvilDaedalus]

Update: Reader Andrew "Duderman" Macintosh (commenter dudenextdoor00) claims responsibility for this picture. Nice job! Original is here.

Team Fortress DLC Price Is Up To Microsoft And Sony

Recently, Valve went on record saying that they'd like their upcoming Team Fortress 2 map pack to be free on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but admitted that such a situation might not be possible. Many wondered if this uncertain future was the result of EA meddling or interference from the platform holders themselves.

We contacted Valve to clarify and their VP of marketing Doug Lombardi informed us that, "The platform holder owns the final call." So just as we'd suspected, whether or not we see these maps for free is indeed up to Sony and Microsoft.

Double Feature To Make You Laugh, Then Make You Hate Us

Team Fortress 2 Art Director's Next Vision

The next thing I'd love to do is not based on realism, but stylizing with a little more in-depth look to the materials in the world. Instead of just having an impressionistic background, or having highly stylized characters. Making the characters a little bit more believable, even incorporating bold design, getting a little bit more specific.

Apparently Team Fortress 2 is lagging pretty badly on Xbox LIVE, and players in larger matches often fall victim to dropping out of games entirely. (We wouldn't know, since we've been training rigorously to pwn Gizmodo later this week in some Halo 3 multiplayer). But the good news is that Valve is aware of the problem, admitting they're aware of the problem and on the road to actually fixing the problem.

In fact, the patch is out Valve's door and just has to pass Microsoft certification before getting distributed to LIVE players. Nice turnaround, Valve.

Valve Aware of TF2's Xbox Live Lag [via gamelife]

The Orange Box must be one of the best values in AAA gaming of all time. But despite the ingenuity of Portal and the anticipation of Half-Life Episode 2, there's one game that's been glove handled with such immense amounts of creativity and love that it can actually overshadow an immensely powerful showing from Valve: Team Fortress 2.

We've met the engineers, scoped the beautiful graphics and heard about the 9 character balance to no end. Now we're left with one thing: actually playing the game. So hit the jump for our Frankenreview on Team Fortress 2: all the value you see in The Orange Box, squeezed into review form with way more disappointing content.

Team Fortress 2 Art Direction, Justified

The earliest version of TF2 that you guys never got to play was this ultra-realistic... it looked a lot like Counter-Strike to a large degree. We wanted to do all these things, but realism fought us every step of the way. In a realistic game it's hard to justify why everything isn't just a bullet or an explosive, because at the end of the day, that's what kills people in the real world...

Valve To Make Big Announcement Tuesday

Valve is such a tease. In their weekly update after revealing some new details on Team Fortress 2, they left this message:

In other TF2 news, stay tuned for a pretty big announcement next week. You're going to want to hold off on planning any vacations until you hear what we've got to say on Tuesday.